The Environmental Voter Project (EVP) employs a unique climate form of a “get out the vote” (GOTV) strategy. Rather than convincing people to care about climate change, it identifies people who already do, but don't consistently vote, and works to get them to the polls. In this Volts podcast episode, EVP founder Nathaniel Stinnett discusses how to find these voters, keep them engaged, and measure their impact. EVP has been involved in many elections to date and has studied its own impact. Its long-term goal is to build a national bloc of climate voters that politicians must listen to.

Here’s how to cast your ballot, in person or by mail, if extreme weather disrupts your life. With just weeks to go until Election Day, Hurricane Helene has destroyed critical infrastructure and displaced thousands in North Carolina and several other states. State and local officials are scrambling to restore basic services. It’s still possible to vote if you live in western North Carolina. If a disaster strikes, the governor can extend voting deadlines, allow ballots to be forwarded to a new address, allow local officials to change or add new polling places, or postpone municipal elections. The U.S. Vote Foundation has a tool to access your county election office’s contact information. In the wake of a disaster, first confirm where you should be voting. Has your polling place been damaged or moved? Was your car damaged in a disaster? Need a ride to the polls? Early in-person voting is a useful option if you’d like to avoid lines on election day or will be out of town. Absentee voting is often called “mail-in voting” or “by-mail voting.” Every state offers this, but some require you to meet certain conditions, like having a valid excuse for why you can’t make it to the polls on election day. This guide describes these voting rules and policies for every state.

Millions of people say they care deeply about climate change ... yet they're not showing up at elections to turn their concern into political power, says environmental voting advocate Nathaniel Stinnett. In this TED Talk, he explains why increasing voter participation is essential to advancing the climate movement and shows how his team is mobilizing millions of new environmental voters — without talking about climate change at all. Even though the main reason why climate policy doesn’t progress as much is due to fossil fuel companies’ political activities, increasing climate voters coming to the polls will enhance the prospects for climate progress.

This post includes climate and environment headlines, data points, and key takeaways from recent public polls - including newly released polling on the Sackett v. EPA decision and clean water protections, new polling on oil and gas accountability, and a new analysis on the gap between Americans’ interest in climate activism and their actual behaviors.

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Are you looking to build digital and in-person organizing tactics that will support your organization or local group in your long-term strategy? Join us for an exclusive training session on the integration of online and offline organizing tactics; a strategic approach designed to amplify impact and engagement across diverse channels.

• Discover the significance of leveraging both digital and traditional organizing methods and tactics to effectively achieve long-term goals.

Americans who experience climate distress are more likely to take personal action on climate change. Americans who had experienced at least one feature of climate distress were much more likely than those who had not to say they had taken different forms of climate action. This includes having signed a petition about global warming (46% vs. 10%, respectively), or having volunteered at an organization working on global warming (19% vs. 2%). Americans who experienced at least one feature of climate distress were more likely than those who had not to say they would meet with an elected official or their staff about global warming (41% vs. 20%, respectively), write letters, email, or phone government officials about global warming (40% vs. 21%), or personally engage in non-violent civil disobedience (e.g., sit-ins, blockades, or trespassing) against corporate or government activities that make global warming worse (35% vs. 9%).

Deeper community engagement is important as states complete build-out of the initial electric vehicle charger deployment along highways. To do outreach to communities, employ a wide range of outreach strategies to disadvantaged communities, including social media, email lists, local media, and campaigns targeted specifically to communities of color (Black, Brown and Indigenous communities); hold a mix of virtual and in-person meetings, including within disadvantaged communities, to achieve broad geographic and demographic representation; consult with community-based organizations, especially those that represent disadvantaged communities, throughout the NEVI planning process; actively solicit feedback from disadvantaged communities through virtual and in-person meetings, listening sessions, public surveys, and recommendations from community-based organizations; and engage tribal nations, who were often entirely omitted from state NEVI planning but should directly benefit from the program.

The 2022 election defied conventional wisdom and historical trends. Democrats won in the majority of heavily contested races, with electorates in these contests looking more like the 2020 and 2018 electorates than a typical midterm. Gen Z and Millennial voters had exceptional levels of turnout, with young voters in heavily contested states exceeding their 2018 turnout by 6% among those who were eligible in both elections. Extreme “MAGA” Republicans underperformed. Women voters pushed Democrats over the top in heavily contested races, where abortion rights were often their top issue. Democrats largely retained their winning 2020 coalition in heavily contested races, with some exceptions.

This free course is designed to help grassroots groups to understand the basics of public communications for building a convincing, winning campaign. It can support groups looking for skills on crafting targeted messaging and framing to move people towards social change. You might want to campaign to fight your opponents, convince new audiences, or mobilize audiences that already support your cause. Each of these objectives requires specific communication strategies. The course includes defining public campaigning, communications basics, campaign objectives (neutralizing, informing, persuading and mobilizing), reaching your target group and storytelling. This takes approximately 5 hours to review. Deep dive sections may add 3-4 more hours. Group discussion time may vary.

Climate justice for Latino Americans means centering policies that achieve environmental, energy, and economic justice together. Latino/a/x households pay disproportionately high energy costs, low-income, Latino/a/x households and communities have so far been left behind in the transition to clean energy, and Latino/a/x workers need a pathway to clean energy jobs. Therefore, we need to invest with justice in clean energy, accelerate the transition to renewable energy (i.e., wind, solar, geothermal and small-scale hydropower), and advance economic equity and opportunity for Latino/a/x workers. This resource further details these problems and policy and political solutions, as related to transit, jobs, fossil fuel drilling, climate adaptation, clean water, voting rights, conservation, and more.